ABC Dates

One "fear" that I had around 20 weeks of being pregnant was the ability to be a good wife and a good mother during the transitioning of having this new addition to our family and to make sure that Samuel and I got some quality time together before babe came I spent one afternoon coming up with dates that went along with each letter of the alphabet. Although we only used like 3 of those ideas, we spent time thinking and finding things to do that would start with the specific letters of the alphabet (..kinda. We had to make some stuff up to get it to work). Good thing Samuel is a great sport and always humors me. In the end, we didn't quite complete the challenge, but we did get to spend some great time together. And yes, I do recognize that I'm wearing the same shirt in almost every picture.

A. Alaska State Troopers. I know, it's slightly pathetic, but our favorite thing to do when Sam gets home from work each Friday night is eating dinner on the couch while watching our favorite show and if it's an episode that we've already seen we head over to amazon prime an episode (...or 2... or 3) that we can watch together.

B. Basilius Home. After purchasing pictures of the Savior  on our trip to Utah we headed to Hobby Lobby to get one of them frame and switched up the pictures on our walls to find a home for them.

C. Car Camping. Why not, right? We headed up to West Virginia to see Harper's Ferry, one of the most scenic drives in America in Shenandoah National Park, and Monticello. Although we ended up in a KOA that probably cost just as much as hotel room we loved putting all the seats down, putting our mosquito nets on the window's, and not smelling one bit like campfire smoke.

D. DrAnks. You would consider going to Sonic and getting a Cherry Limeade a date too if the closest Sonic required a drive on the freeway...

E.Expensive: Carolina Creamery. Nothing like $9.50 for homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.

F. Forty-Three Cent Dinner. Due to a calendar card, a busy day at work, and an employee meal we scored a Spicy Deluxe with Pepper Jack Cheese meal with a large drink, a frosted lemonade, and my BLT (with pepper jack cheese and pickles) for a grand total of $0.43. Success. Cheap success.

G. Ginormous House. Ever heard of the Biltmore Estate? It's America's largest home filled will a zillion stairs (...and I walked up all of them), expensive chocolates, massive ceilings, giant laundry rooms, and America's first indoor pool and bowling alley.

H. Hospital Tour. Although I probably couldn't tell you anything that we learned while on our hospital tour besides where the "Women in Labor" parking is, we did get to see a birthing room and a recovery room. Woof. Talk about overwhelming.

I. Ice Cream. I was so excited to try out the ice cream maker that my parents had bought me for my birthday that it didn't really turn out to be ice cream. I didn't take the time to let the ice cream mixture sit in the fridge and probably should have let it mix longer. Oh well. We ended up eating really cold whipped cream with chocolate chip cookie pieces mixed in. Oops.

J. Jet Setters. Kinda. We purchased ourselves some BOGO shakes from Steak N' Shake and headed out to the airport lookout to watch the planes land and take off.

K. Mr. K's Soft Serve Ice Cream and because it's apparently a Charlotte staple.

L. Last supper. And I'm really upset that I don't even have a picture. Our favorite Charlotte friends, Jake, McKaylee, and Talbot Childs are moving to American Fork so we headed to dinner at Chuy's with them and then headed to their places for some ice cream and chatting while baby Talbot went to bed.

M. MOOOOO! Cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-A. Unfortunately there are no pictures. Our dignity was on the line. Although I had finished my final day at work earlier that afternoon, after I picked up Sam we drove home speedy quick, changed our clothes, and taped black spots all over ourselves so that we could treat ourselves to a free meal at Chick-fil-A.

N. NASCAR RACE!! It was a last minute decision and a way better choice than spending the night making no bake cookies. We took our own snacks and sat in the Family Section (hooray for no drinking and no smoking) and rented a transmitter so that we could hear the conversation between the drivers and their crew throughout the race.

O.

P. 1000 piece puzzle. This date night turned into a week long event. and we loved every minute of staying up past our bedtime and eating Cadbury eggs while working to finish it. Our best British accents also seemed to come out during our long puzzle building hours.

Q. Quinci's Choice: Cafe Rio in Utah.

R. Red box movie night. We spent the evening watching 'The Imitation Game' and eating popcorn.

S. Sam's Club. Yes, we did drive all the way to Sam's club just for soft pretzels, pizza, and frozen yogurt....

T. Top of the Mountain. So while we may have taken the shuttle to the top of Kennesaw Mountain in Atlanta, it was the best $6 we spent. There was no way either of us were walking up the mountain...

U.

V. Volunteering. We got to spend one date night babysitting our little friend Aspen while her mom headed to a meeting. This date (complete with Charleston chews and mini bottles of sparking cider) was mostly filled with chasing a 15 month old around with all her stuffed animals and attempting to get her to bed. 

W.  Wedding Date! Made the trip to Utah for the sealing of Heidi and Derrick! Our flights got in about 10 minutes apart so we loved finding them in the airport before the big day! Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of us with the happy couple on their wedding day.

X. X-treme Sports. The love of monster trucks is already running through the veins of our child and nothing (not even the fact that I am 37 weeks pregnant or was throwing up and nauseous that morning) was going to keep ups from going.

Y.

Z. Zoooooom! We took another trip up to Charlotte Motor Speedway so that Sam could take a ride in a NASCAR! 170 MPH and he loved it! I enjoyed standing near by and recording in the shade. Don't mind our squinty eyes...